Transmigrating to the Chongzhen era, I started by confiscating the Donglin Party.

He awoke to find himself as Emperor Chongzhen. Before him knelt officials filling the Qianqing Palace, the Grand Secretary's interrogation ringing in his ears: "Your Majesty, the national treasury has only 190,000 taels left. Will you increase the Liaodong military pay?!" History books roared in his mind—he knew this was the fifteenth year of Chongzhen's reign, Li Zicheng had already captured Xiangyang, Huang Taiji was about to re-enter the capital region, and seventeen months later, he would hang himself on Coal Hill. But that was the historical Chongzhen. Now, it was Li Ce. "Liaodong military pay? No." He rose from the dragon throne, slamming a corrupt ledger, secretly kept by the late emperor, before the officials. "The money is in your homes; the army is in chaos because of you; the people are driven to rebellion by you." "I don't want pay now—I want to kill." Seven days of anti-corruption purges, a bloodbath in the capital, eight million taels confiscated! One month of military reorganization, renowned generals won over the hearts of the people, the capital garrison was under his control! Three months of reforms, the Grand Canal, salt and iron, border trade—all were now under his control! The Donglin Party wept and remonstrated? I beheaded their leader. The gentry of Jiangnan cut off grain transport? I opened sea routes, establishing a new source of revenue. Border generals mutinied? With a single imperial edict and 100,000 taels of silver, I ordered them to defect on the battlefield. When Huang Taiji's iron cavalry once again knocked on the gates, he no longer saw a decaying empire, but an emperor gripping his sword, his eyes cold. "The Ming Dynasty of the past would compromise." "But now, my rules are the rules." This is the story of a modern strategist, Emperor Chongzhen, who, with the coldest political maneuvering and the sharpest blade, defied fate to change the destiny of China. I am the nation, I am the law, I am—the final thunderbolt.